brimstone chains have mercy
by kovertkermudgeon
Summary: How Akon went from Hell to the soul society to the maggot's nest then squad 12. Short stories about: Akon's childhood, his time in prison, how he met certain characters, his difficulties adjusting into the Gotei 13 system, etc.. Will eventually include stories from the period between the vizard fiasco and Aizen's betrayal. Humor & adl chars after ch1. M for language, gore.
1. in the beginning, there was fire

" **brimstone chains have mercy"**

[How Akon went from Hell to the soul society and how he ended up in the maggot's nest. Will feature: Urahara, Mayuri, Soifon, Yoruichi, Hiyori, etc. Short stories about: Akon's childhood, his time in prison, how he met certain characters, his difficulties adjusting into the Gotei 13 system, etc.. Will eventually include stories from the period between the vizard fiasco and Aizen's betrayal. M for language, eventual gore.]

[this features Akon, specifically the version I rp on tumblr under akon-just-akon…so not everything might align perfectly with canon material…also I don't own any canon material so don't sue me friends.]

 **ch. one: in the beginning, there was fire**

Jingles jangles the sound of metal on metal as of bells;

klink-ing clack-ing joyous rattle;

tinkle ringing high-pitched sigh;

warm light full stomach;

deep laughter snap of bone.

"Mercy! Please! No!"

Silence. Depthless quiet.

"Come, little one, it's time to go to work."

See the damned gather round. She holds the baby out for everyone to see. Wide-eyes. Quite a spectacle. Smiles.

"Is that a child?"

"Miraculous!"

"When was the last time—?"

"Looks tasty."

"Could I hold—?"

"Look! Look! I thought I'd never—"

"Patience, soon. More, more…"

"Yes! It is! It is!"

"How'd you—?"

"I loved mine"

"You had children, before?"

"Ooh! How cute!"

Strange faces. Touches. He doesn't like them. But they carry the sounds. He does not cry, even when they pinch and prod.

"What's the big deal? Just a kid—"

"Yes I killed them."

"Those lil' toes!"

"Boy or girl?"

"Teeheeheeehehe"

"Must be a trick…wait—"

"I wish—"

"Nuisance."

She would allow him to nurse as she gorged herself on meat. Tasty sinners. Raw or over hellfire, there was nothing more filling. So much easier now she was dead. No laws or taboos here. And no babies either. Except her own. Precious boy made hunting so easy. Even if his cries made her furious.

Angry shrieks. She's left him on the hot ground too long. She picks him up, cradling choke-hold. Coo, coo, use the soft gentle mommy voice. "Shut up, little fucker, or I'll slice you open. Dear one I would have killed you had you not been so useful. Little child of mine I will eat you up if you ever grow. Stay this way forever, only silence, be still. That burn brings you no pain."

She holds the chains up before it's little dark eyes. Rattle clank ring. Toothless thing smiles. Mama- bring more chain sounds.

Much to her chagrin, the little boy grew. Not very much, she could still pass it off as an infant as long as the victim did not come too close. As long as the little fucker held still, which to his credit, he tried very hard to do. It was just too damn curious. No matter the punishment, if the boy sensed something new, he had to figure it out. Wiggle away and waddle to investigate, point and make question sounds. She did not allow it to ever speak words. When it forgot, in its' excitement, she punished it severely. More severely each time. She did not understand what kept this boy alive. Surely she had stopped holding back her anger and frustration when executing discipline. And its' little bones broke so easy, its' little skin ripped at the slightest scratch, its' organs squished with so little pressure. But the damn thing always got back up. It might take a long time, but eventually something worth discovering would rouse the boy back into movement. Little thing dragging its' limbs, whimpering softly.

She tried to leave him, over and over again. She would beat him to a pulp until she was satisfied he was dead (or as dead as anything in hell could be); then she would flee the scene. She would go as far as fast as possible for days and days. Even after she was most surely free of it, she would continue moving at all times. Sometimes it took weeks for him to catch up. Once it took several months. But it always did. The boy would appear behind her, his approach unnoticed, reaching up and tugging on her pants leg.

Whimper food sound question sound?

"How the fuck do you find me?! Huh?" She would beat him again. Crying only made the beatings worse, so the boy would silently take each blow. In the stillness in-between attacks, when mother stopped to catch her breath, he would try again.

Whimper food sound question sound?

She tried to feed it to the Kushanāda the day it accidentally called her "mother." She figured that by the time he could crawl back from the very depths of Hell to the highest tier they occupied now, he would have forgotten all about her.

She tied him up real tight. She lured one to him. She watched. She waited. The boy shrieked and shrieked. It used all the words it knew (the mother had very much underestimated the extent of its' vocabulary) against the approaching demon, but nothing stilled its' slow progression. The boy tried to free himself, biting through all the flesh he could reach. No luck. She smiles as her son stops crying. He's completely silent now. His damn dark eyes wide with curiosity at his own death. No fear, just inquisitiveness.

The Kushanāda opened its' maw and encompassed the boy whole, easily biting through the bonds holding him. Not a peep from this boy. His eyes were observing the masticatory system. Fascinating.

When low and behold, the Kushanāda spits it out. The boy looks around, perturbed. A devious smile spreads across his face. He approaches the beast and begins examining it.

The mother is in shock. She cannot move.

The Kushanāda now comes for her.

She runs. The demon speeds up, but still seems to be at its' leisure. The boy follows along obediently. It's trying to calculate the volume of the monster's cranium. He mutters numbers to himself.

She screams for help. This is Hell. No one comes.

She is cornered, no where left to run now.

"Please, baby, save Mommy, PLEASE BABY!"

The boy looks up. He had forgotten about mother.

"SAVE ME YOU STUPID USELESS FUCK! OR I'LL KILL YOU WRETCHED WORM-FACED IDIOT! HELP ME!"

The boy trots forward to occupy the space between his mother against a cliff face and the approaching Kushanāda. He looks back and forth between the two.

Whimper food sound question sound?

"ALRIGHT YOU ASS I'LL FUCKING FEED YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR FUCKING DAYS YOU IMBECILE FUCKING SAVE ME! FUCK!"

The boy grins. This is a new habit he picked up from a meal she had killed for them a few weeks ago. It's creepy, to say the least; and for whatever reason he would not stop the behavior despite her harsh reprimands.

He scurries up to the Kushanāda again, studying it with his head to one side.

"HURRY! FOR FUCK'S SAKE BABY HELP!"

The boy grins again and jumps up, both arms extended, grabbing at something.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! HELP GODDAMNIT!"

The boy continues jumping and reaching, tongue out, brow knotted in concentration.

She shrieks, the Kushanāda is upon her. She will curse her demon child until her very last breathe.

But that moment never comes. Instead she hears her child make the happy sound he used to signify he had finished eating. The mother opens her eyes to slits. What the actual fuck?

The Kushanāda had stopped. Frozen in place, mouth open, inches away from the mother. And there was her loathsome child, swinging from the chains binding the beast, chewing on them with his incoming teeth. Kushanāda did not have soul chains…or hell chains for that matter…what did her son do?

"Did you kill it, boy? What the fuck did you do?"

The toddler slid down the chain all the way to the ground, it elongated along his way. He rattles the chain happily. Food question sound.

"What? Can we eat it? I dunno who the fuck would try?"

The boy blinked, falling down into a sitting position. He's thinking, muttering a series of incoherent sounds. Finally he crawls forward and bites into the front leg, swallowing and sitting back down in one smooth movement. He blinks exaggeratedly, head tilted to the side, smacking his lips, waiting. She backs away slowly. Freak.

Nothing happens. The boy makes a happy sound and continues munching his odd culinary discovery. She just watches in disgust. Eventually he looks up at her.

Question sound.

"No thanks, kid, that's just weird. You'll probably die from poison or something soon, you watch. Besides, it smells awful."

The kid wipes his mouth and waddles over to his mother, who tries to back away out of his reach to no avail. He keeps shaking his head no.

"Ok whatever. Let's find me some real food." She picks a direction and starts walking towards it. The child follows, always teetering one step behind. He falls down a lot.

It takes the mother forever to figure out her child's special talent. But when she finally does, she immediately takes advantage of him while crafting her next escape plan. He can sense essence chains. She did not quite understand it, but her son could make visible chains on beings which had no soul chain. It kind of made sense. Things without soul chains, like hollows, could still retain a specific form. And after anything died the soul of the thing somehow stayed together all the way through the reincarnation process. So the existence of something to bind a soul into a form…she did not understand very well. When her son touches them, he can immobilize his prey. She hopes to further develop this ability. Perhaps one day he can kill at will, even from a long distance. Or re-shape chains that have already encroached. Maybe he can hunt down any spirit she asks. Or banish her captors to hell. Or even grant her reincarnation. Or just pull victims to them. She has no idea what this little demon is capable of, but whatever it is, it excites her.

Now determined to not kill or abandon her child, one day, on a whim, she finally deigns to give the boy a name.

"Akon. That's you. When I say that—Akon—I'm talking to you so you better listen, kid."

Akon nods solemnly. What a grand responsibility it is, a name.

He points at the woman. Question sound.

"No no. Only good little carrion get to know my name. Maybe if you grow up to be a big strong boy and do every little thing Mama asks, I _might_ just tell you."

Akon grinned.

"Stop that, Akon. No more of those weird smiles. Gives me the creeps."

The boy goes back to his serious demeanor. It is a long time before he smiles again.


	2. escape interlude

" **brimstone chains have mercy"**

[this features Akon, specifically the version I rp on tumblr under akon-just-akon…so not everything might align perfectly with canon material…also I don't own any canon material so don't sue me friends.]

 **ch. 2: escape interlude**

[a/n: the powers belonging to my version of Akon are based on a concept that's not really canon. "essence chains" …anything alive has a soul chain. the soul chain includes an invisible essence chain. anything inanimate or "dead" (hollow, arrancar) still has an essence chain. this is how there can be objects in all the places that are not the real world…the chains are made out of links which constitute different elements/substances, b/c reincarnation doesn't happen to inanimate objects— but their essence is broken down/changed to be used elsewhere. ex: reishi— quincies absorb this, make it into weapons, etc— that's breaking down an essence chain into reishi links, then re-combining them to create new essence chains (new objects.) ex: reiryoku form links in chains— chains broken, reformed — reiatsu…this parallels the idea of reiryoku:stored energy (potential)::reiatsu: free to use energy (kinetic)...reiatsu is also kind of like thermonuclear energy, though, since it is also released on its' own (like heat)...either way it being theorized as a chain/links still kinda works…?]

He is now old enough to move without the clumsy jerks of a toddler, but still too young to look old enough to go to school. Akon has been a very good boy, but his mother has done nothing but beat him. He is happy, though, because the woman does not leave him anymore. And most days they do not starve.

When they are desperate for food, she makes him use his power. Hunting was easy. It was using his ability to kill that was difficult. It hurts. It makes him tired. He does not like the sound. He hears voices. They hurt him. That does not matter, if mother asks, he must obey. Their chains sound wrong, when he rips them out. And their food does not speak to him, when he is given the order to kill. He likes it when the food speaks to him. Mother will not look him in the eye, but dinner sometimes does.

It took quite some time for the woman to enact phase one of her plan. This was something she had tried, early on, when she was still new to hell, heavy with child. She found a shinigami and tricked it into loving her. The deception was so deep she even convinced the poor man that Akon was his baby- there was some kind of mistake, they were all happy together when they were alive, a terrible mistake, their love allowed them to meet again, to fix the great mistake. They had almost made it. The man acquired counterfeit passes and hell butterflies to cross-over. But then he opened his stupid mouth. Said something suspicious to one of his friends. They got caught before the senkaimon was even summoned. He was sent to execution back in the soul society; she was banished back into the lower depths.

That was where Akon was born, much to her surprise. She had seen other pregnant women in hell. It was often incorporated into eternal punishments. Some women carried ever-wailing sickly infants. She knew of several cases where women stayed pregnant forever- only the sick, fat, uncomfortable kind of pregnant, not the glowing, eager, loving kind. There was a legend one woman gave birth to stillborns over and over. Another told of someone stuck in childbirth for eternity. But nothing ever came out; she'd die before the baby breached, only to re-animate at the beginning of labor. No one was ever born _alive_ in Hell.

But since Akon had been born, and grown up a little, this time would be different. She went about selecting a man to con. This was no easy task since the shinigami deployed to hell underwent special training designed to harden them against the deplorable lies sinners were capable of. Even so, there were few women in hell; there were fewer female shinigami around. Thus, for one so beautiful as the mother, seduction was not too difficult. She only needed to lure one man away from the rest, then Akon would take over.

There were several failed attempts. The mother would bring a shinigami to him, only to find that he could not hold their chain long enough. It burned. Minimally touching a chain entailed a brief static shock, maximally full-on charred skin burns. Not just his hands, it radiated through his whole body. He would pass out from exertion. Or his muscles would shudder unexpectedly, yanking the chain out altogether. That hurt even worse. He had never felt such agony, not in all the years of his mother's rough handling of him. Killing a shinigami meant sacrificing breathing for hours, a heart-stopping headache, such boiling heat in his gut. But each time he could hold the chain for longer, though the pain did not decrease in intensity.

Then one day, the plan actually worked. The woman lured what happened to be a fairly weak, younger male to Akon. She explained his choice: his life for opening a portal. This particular victim must have been relatively new because he conceded immediately, without any of the usual struggle the previous victims had exhibited. They were lucky, as it turned out. This young man happened to be one of the designated couriers between soul society and hell proper. They could leave almost instantly.

Akon was too focused on holding the victim's chain to notice his surroundings. It was easy enough to paralyze something, but to grant limited movement was taxing to say the least. Already the skin on his fingertips was melting down to the bone. He did not notice over the radiating pain in his forehead.

The poor fool killed itself. He tried to swing out, unsheathing his sword with the intention of striking the woman down. But since Akon's grip did not release, the movement yanked the chain free. Popping dots of pain shot through Akon's eyes, his ears rang within the vacuum of noise left by a soul instantly generating a hollow. Unnaturally fast transitions _hurt_. He falls to his knees, screaming in agony.

The walls of the precipice world start closing in, drawn to the presence of three entities no longer in the possession of a hell butterfly. The new hollow, still writhing about in confusion, is easily swept into the goo, its' existence extinguished with the first touch. The woman has the sense to scoop up her child and run for her life. There is still a tunnel, a path to follow, just no light at the end awaits them anymore.

"QUIT YOUR SQUABBLING AND SAVE US YOU IDIOT! AKON! DO SOMETHING! NOW! WE'LL DIE!"

The pain throbbing in his head was too great to allow any thought. It was his instinctual aptitude for self-preservation that saved the two that day. Unbidden, Akon's own chain lengthened out, plunging through the dead end ahead of them. His chain links to the nearest group of souls it senses, creating an anchor with which to draw the two across the border. This hurts even worse. The boy is barely even conscious anymore. His eyes flutter as the individual soul chains hooked to his chain begin to pop out, one after another. Dead dead dead dead dead. The pressure is too much. The gate will not open. Not enough lives.

His spirit roars a challenge to the universe. His chain finds more souls to tether to, farther and farther out.

It is enough. Somehow.

Out of the nowhere, the gate to hell opens, then disappears just as quickly. Everything nearby is gone. Every blade of grass, leaf, creature, even the rocks. Shadows fill their places, forms enough to hint at what used to exist in this place.

And there is a mother holding her weeping child to her chest, rocking him, soothing him.

"It's ok, baby, you did it. You saved us. It's ok."

Akon still cried, quietly though. She had never comforted him before. He felt so happy.

[a/n: from now on expect more canon characters to pop up. will also include more about his specific powers in notes ch starts. msg w/ ?s or comments please]


	3. green grass blue sky wide open mouth

" **brimstone chains have mercy"**

[this features Akon, specifically the version I rp on tumblr under akon-just-akon…so not everything might align perfectly with canon material…also I don't own any canon material so don't sue me friends.]

 **ch3: green grass blue sky wide open mouth**

[a/n: this is based on the idea that hell doesn't have food so sinners there mostly eat other humans. it would not be considered taboo or murderous— the soul would re-spawn anyway. similarly killing someone was not "bad," even when it occurred out of a situation other than necessary for survival. killing for sport or enjoyment is the main way of asserting dominance/communicating strength. ]

[also sinners have a "hellish" language the same way soul society has a unified language. I assume language in soul society works like this: someone dies a native speaker of a specific language; they take this language to death. something about the world means that when others speak, they hear their own language, so everyone understands one another. presumably sinners know both, but speak "hellish" to further reject their old selves and to remain private when shinigami could be listening. "hellish" has to be learned/taught rather than something inherently brought into death. there are no words in "hellish" for equivalent ideas in the real world and/or other worlds, such as "stars." idk? but Akon's mother never bothered to teach him the soul language. she never directly taught Akon hellish either (in the western style of teaching your kids how to speak.) he picked it up on his own.]

It was too green here. Akon did not know green. Or much about blue. He had to learn the words for all these new things. Blue, sky, grass, trees, birds, water, stream, rain, night, sun, day, moon, stars, flower, what an odd place. The food spoke differently here. Their reactions to realizing they were about to die seemed much the same: fear, anger, despair, confusion, whatever; the sounds were much nicer. And their soul chains! Oh how they sparkled. Their clinks were so pure, a joy to hear, light, high-pitched, soft. No iron hell chains holding them back, clanking doom. They tasted much better too, not that Akon cared much about taste. His palate was well developed, he was just disinterested in that particular sense. Really nothing tastes bad after eating Kushanāda on occasion. Even hollows were better meals than those.

These were the hungry times. Akon had to eat hollows a lot. Live people were scarce. Souls born in this area died quickly at the hands of murderous gangs roaming the territory. Those considered strong enough joined the gangs. Akon and his mother avoided them. He could discern each and every soul, and thus evasion was easy. The small groups ate all the other wild edible plants and animals. Not that it mattered since the mother could not have caught any game anyway, and she had long ago forgotten which things were poisonous.

But even though he was hungry almost all the time, Akon was happy. The woman could not leave him now. He was her only route to food.

Then one day, the woman's time ran out. Without warning, the hell gates appeared. He has long forgotten the minute nuances to her voice, but he remembers her scream. She tried to hold onto him. It felt so nice. She had never held him purposefully since he was too big to pass for an infant. Even as her grip failed, nails clawing into his arms, squeezing his frail frame hard enough to snap a rib or two, he smiled at her. He did not understand what was happening. He was going too. They would always be together.

Then it was done. The doors disappeared, her soul claimed again. And there was young Akon, blinking confused in the sunlight, hot blood dripping down his arms, holding his broken torso.

Where was she?

She had never gone where he could not follow.

Where was she?

Mother?

Mother?

Where?

He did not belong here in this green place. He was born of hellfire and brimstone. Soft grass could not hold him under such a big blue sky.

Over and over he tried to summon her chain to follow it. He tried to get the doors to appear. He worked at it until he was quivering with exhaustion, barely conscious.

It hurt.

It really fucking hurt.

The little boy howled in agony, breaking down into a fit of tears that lasted long enough to cover all the years since he had stopped crying because mother demanded it. It was so animalistic, a dying creature bellowing so that all the earth would know of its' untimely end. Heartbroken.

Between his efforts to summon the gates of hell and his incessant shrieks, the boy's presence became known to a nearby group of nomadic killers. They approached cautiously, at first, only to grow bold when they saw the size of the creature responsible for all the racket.

Akon heard the bells. Those joyous chain sounds. They should not be here. There was no room for joy in this world. This hell out of hell without mother. The sound mocked his grief. It picked him up and shoved his nose in his mistake. He could here the voices again. The ones so high-pitched the ringing felt it would split his eardrums any instant. White hot fire through his forehead. Frost in his belly. Peeling his skin away. Bile in his throat.

 _The world will go on. No life matters. This pain is nothing._

His wails of grief turned into a roar of anger.

 _No mercy. Only fools believe in fairness._

 _To kill is to be free._

 _To be free of all burdens._

The child stood up, panting, shaking with fatigue. The mob surrounded him, snickering, mocking him with their weird sounds.

 _Food has no right to speak to you._

 _There can be no tolerance for ignorance._

Akon killed them all. None of them could even scratch him.

Weeping child rocking on the ground clutching all their chains-

where do you belong?

Weeks passed uneventfully. He sets up a small circular territory, a little less than two acres. Anything that crossed into his domain died. Easy as that. Akon was wary to leave the place the gates appeared. Besides that, his mother never mentioned how large this world was. It never occurred to him to move outside of his own space. He cannot remember this time in the limbo of what he came to find out was the West Eightieth Rukongai, also known as Furuiki (Old Tree.) Time passed without his notice. He killed and ate whatever he could to survive; he studied the stars extensively; he observed various flora, experimented with insects, tried to understand. He tried to get back to Hell through various methods. Over time his attempts decreased in frequency and vigor. Mostly he stared into nothingness, mind empty.

On one of the first few days, he found a baby bunny. This was the first non-human mammal he had seen. There are only invertebrates in Hell. Upon arriving in the soul society he had since been introduced to birds, a few reptiles and amphibians, nothing very noteworthy. Indeed Akon did not actually encounter a live fish until sometime during his adolescence. Unable to find a word for the rabbit in his hellish vocabulary, Akon named it: not-bug-not-bird-not-scaly-thing. They were together every moment for the rest of Akon's stay there. He became very fond of it. It was soft and did not seem to mind that he talked at it all day. It's chain made the cutest fuzziest mini tinkling sound that made Akon hum with happiness.

The unprecedented appearance of a hell gate in the soul society caused a small stir. The second manifestation created an interest. It was decided that whatever shinigami were sent out to detain criminal souls or kill hollows should also attempt to investigate while already out on the job. Pinpointing where the event took place proved to be more difficult than previously anticipated. The technology at the time was ineffective at detecting the particular kind of hell residue left by such an event. Part of the problem was the only available data were vague details about the scenery surrounding the point where the gate appeared. In this case all the clues the instruments could provide were: dense deciduous forest, outskirts Rukongai, small running water body, red mud. This unfortunately applied to the majority of the territory in the four outwards-most districts.

Due to incompetence and inadequate intel, the mystery of the two hell gate incidents were never officially solved.

Several weeks after Akon found himself alone, he encountered the first shinigami in this world. Recently the soul society had begun to crack down on the growing number of dangerous gangs in the four 80th Rukongai areas. This was only due to the fact that many gangs had started spreading their networks into the nicer areas. After a series of brutal murders involving gruesome sexual assaults on lesser noble houses, the punishment force was finally granted the funding to deal with the problem. Unfortunately the increased interest of the law only served to further fuel the motivation of the murder posses to increase their criminal presence in the upper districts. Further pressure was put on the punishment force to root out the theoretical leader(s) and annihilate them immediately.

Akon continued to maintain his strict no-passage policy when it came to thugs, but shinigami were a different story. He killed a few lone stray ones, but just as in his trials in Hell, killing something with a higher than average spiritual pressure was quite painful. He never bothered an attempt at fighting more than one.

At first Akon mostly observed the small groups of shinigami running around lost in circles. It took him awhile to determine their purpose; if a stupid bandit had not accidentally run into one group, Akon may never have figured it out. The idiot was promptly captured and hauled off somewhere. Although none of these actions made much sense to the boy, he was proud of his induction.

One day an odd soul approached. It was nothing like Akon had ever experienced before. The chain was white-hot, it sang out in such a beautiful tone that Akon felt euphoric. This was music (although at the time he had no concept of the term.) And the content feeling of a full belly. But dangerous, the lethargy of being too full. Too trustworthy. An obvious trap in the form of harmonious purity. His curiosity got the best of him. He had to investigate this tantalizing force.

The shinigami was in a small group of six. They were hunting something. Akon could tell these people were much more skilled. They might even find their target eventually. It was the unpredictable terrain of this place that held them back. He followed them for several hours, deeply intrigued by the leading one. He had a feeling it was aware of his presence. That was new. His victims were rarely aware of Akon until he was directly upon them. What was this person?

Suddenly the figure stopped, swiveling around and looking up. Right at Akon. Startled, Akon almost lost his footing on the tree limb he had just landed upon. The figure waves. Deep green eyes. Akon feels them pierce right through his body.

"S'alright! You can come on down!"

More waves, a smile. Akon's eyes narrow to slits, he tenses, ready to flee.

"I swear I don't bite!" A laugh, Akon's first time hearing one.

Another shinigami whispers to the interesting one, his hand on his sword, "Want that I should handle it sir?"

The others approach, also grasping their sword hilts.

"Nononono-oh. That'll be unnecessary. Thanks for the caution though! We are in dangerous territory after all." The man dismissively waves, laughs again.

Akon growls softly.

The man takes a few slow steps toward Akon's perch. Akon eyes him cooly, forces his legs to stop shaking.

 _Fear is for fools._

 _Control._

 _You are the dangerous thing._

The man waves again. "Heelllooo? Come on down! I can seee you!" He fishes around in his pockets, eventually pulling out a large lollipop. "I've got candy!"

"What are you doing sir?!" The same subordinate whispers.

Without looking the other replies, also in a whisper, "This kid's gotta be from here. Maybe he knows something. At least some good hidey-holes."

Akon remains still. He does not know these words. Candy. Kid. Sir. Hidey. Most of them. Food was the only thing that spoke to Akon directly; but this was not food. Food only communicated within a set frame of emotions, usually with similar words. These were new feelings. And what was that "hah" sound? What did it all mean? Clearly the premises for the basis of his worldview were wrong. He must investigate further.

"Yoo-hoo! Co-oooome doo-oown! We just wanna talk!" The man called in a singsong voice, waving the candy enticingly.

Akon growled to himself, sliding down the tree. He poofs himself up as big as possible. It is very hard to look intimidating when the other party is so much taller. Akon was about eye-level with the other's knee. Courteously, the tall male stooped to reach the boy's level.

"Why hello there! My name's Kisuke Urahara and these are some nice people from squad two! What's your name?"

Akon barely glanced at one of the subordinates as it hissed at the name-drop.

"Sir! Don't give it your real name sir!"

The one called Kisuke looked back at the other over his shoulder, scratching the back of his head anxiously. "Heheh, I'm sure it's fii-ne! Nothing to worry about…I don't think. Heh."

He turned back to the fiercely glaring child.

"So, your name, kid?"

Akon growled.

"Oooohhh-kay then. No names, gotcha. You from around here? Got any parents or anything?"

Akon just continued to glare as menacingly as possible.

"Aww, com'mon! You can tell me! I'm a very trustworthy guy! And! I'll give you some treats if you can tell me somethings about the aa-rr-ee-aa!"

There was a long pause. The two continued to survey one another, one with a serious frown and the other with a goofy grin. The others were getting restless. This was taking up valuable time.

"Sir, I don't think this kid's got any information, let alone brains sir. Prolly a mute, sir. It's time to move on."

The blond sighed deeply, straightening back up. "Well it was worth a shot, right? Ok, let's get movin' then."

As they turned, the boy finally spoke. This was his first real conversation, so Akon was a little nervous. This is why his "no!" exclamation came out sounding more like "nnllllaaah!"

"Huh?" The blond leader turned around, the others started moving away slowly hoping their leader would follow. He didn't.

Akon, suddenly shy, looked at the ground. "Lines."

"Hmm? Lines? What about 'em?"

The boy's face scrunched up. Their sounds were so odd to form, very confusing. "Lines not can-dee. Lines."

"Oh you don't like candy huh?"

"Whh-at iss?"

"Sugar!"

Akon's expression remained blank.

"What you don't know what sugar is?! What a tragedy! This one's on me!" Kisuke holds the lollipop out. Akon eyes it suspiciously. The suspicious thing was not on the man but in his hand. Adults were stupid.

"Lines," he growls.

"Uh, sorry kid, but I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, heheh."

Akon grunts in frustration. "Lines! Lines for say!… This!" He crouches to the ground and squiggles in the dirt; the shinigami hovers over his shoulder, watching. He had seen a few words marked in the dirt like this before; the occasional tree had them carved in the bark too. Akon needed to understand the purpose and meaning behind the odd lines.

"Oh! Words! You mean words. And when you write them down they're called writing. When you see them and understand— that's called reading!"

Akon nodded sagely. "Wry-ting. Wree-ding…Want!"

"Uh…let's see…I don't have any books with me ya know?"

"Boo-kuh?"

"Oh, right. Books are a bunch of writing contained in, well, a book! Out of paper— like flat pieces of trees, ya know?"

The child looked at the shinigami liked he was crazy. The people here said such odd things. Kisuke laughed.

"I guess you'd have to see it to believe it huh? Let's see though…," he digs around in his pockets, until he finally finds a scrap of paper, which he holds out triumphantly. "Ha! Knew I had a receipt somewhere!"

Solemnly, Kisuke kneels and presents the crinkled take-out receipt to Akon, as if it were an important document. Akon snatches it up, eyeing its' contents greedily.

"Wat is?"

"That's a receipt. When you buy things you get paper in return…that kinda proves you bought something or…something."

Akon looks up, suspicious. "Bie? Bot?"

"Geez, kid, you're killin' me here…trading money for goods or services, I guess…Heh."

Clearly the kid does not understand. It returns to it's close scrutiny of the paper. Kisuke hears it mutter "mercy" under it's breath.

After some time, Akon finally looks up. Kisuke is looking around the forest like it is much more interesting than the odd child who seemed to know nothing about the world except how to attempt to look mean and scary.

"What look?" Akon asks, pointing at the group.

The shinigami brightens up, snapping back to attention. "Ah! Finally! We're trying to find some souls who kill lotsa things and do nasty things to 'em. Know anyone who lives around here?"

Akon tilts his head to the side. What a dumb question. No one lives in his small territory but him. Clearly this adult did not know how to ask the right questions.

"No. Have thing from him." He points at one of Kisuke's pockets. Inside is a bloody rag supposedly used by the murderer to bind one of his own wounds. Akon makes grabby hands at it until the shinigami hands it over. He holds it up to the light, looking at it from all direction.

"Yes. Look him. There. Go."

Akon starts walking the opposite direction. He has to turn around and pull at the confused shinigami's pant leg. Adults could be so stupid.

"What, you want me to go with you?"

Akon just continues tugging until the older male finally moves.

"Alright then, but if you're wrong these other guys are gunna be pretty peeved with me!"

The others grunted affirmatives. "Already peeved, boss, this is another waste of time! I'm tellin' you this kid's dumb'n'mute!"

Akon turned around and snarled at the offender.

"Easy fellas let's all get along!" Kisuke waggles his finger at his subordinate. "And if ya can't say something nice, best not say anythin' at all. M'k?" The others groan.


	4. exposed

**ch4: exposed**

[a/n: soul chains are easy to break/pull out, essence chains are more difficult…animate dead forms -hollows, arrancars- have two essence chains (to match the soul chain + essence chain in live forms)…in all three categories (animate live, animate dead, inanimate) the last essence chain is the hardest to destroy by "unplugging" the chain in one swipe. so it's easier to break down last essence chains by dealing w/ the individual links)]

Akon was of course quite capable of hunting any particular spiritual presence down. This is how the bizarre relationship between Akon and Kisuke Urahara began. The freshly-graduated already-seated officer would bring Akon things to read; in exchange, Akon would lead him to a target criminal. He was not finicky when it came to reading material; anything would serve as payment from recipes to menus to lecture notes and full-sized books on chemistry and trigonometry. He always returned the borrowed item within a few days. Kisuke was not sure how much of the material the young boy actually absorbed; he was too polite to ask. All he knew was that once in awhile Akon would ask what a word or phrase meant. He had a feeling that the boy could understand everything he said; but that was odd since Akon so rarely spoke, and when he did it was with a very limited vocabulary and never grammatically correct. The shinigami thus went back and forth between thinking his odd helper was either a genius or just a very good bluffer.

This arrangement continued for nearly two months. In all that time, the only case Akon could not (or did not, as Kisuke suspected) help with was the hell gate incident. Whenever the man tried to ask Akon about it, the boy pretended to not understand. This whole time, Kisuke was able to keep the existence of the feral boy relatively secret. However this was growing increasingly difficult. Akon's perfectly circular territory was starting to become obvious to more and more individuals. With few exceptions any soul or hollow entering his territory never came back out. It was only a matter of time before his superiors would be asked to investigate the phenomena. So he kept trying to tell the odd soul to move away, maybe even keep moving permanently. He did not seem to understand the request.

Akon was fairly content during this time. Sometimes the eccentric man would bring orange things called "carrots" for his not-bug-not-bird-not-scaly-thing. Kisuke explained that the name for these creatures was "rabbit," but Akon felt his nomenclature was superior. "Rabbit" was no substitution for a description. When Akon designed and built a large collapsable cage, Kisuke helped him modify and perfect the design. Akon was very pleased. Now not-bug-not-bird-not-scaly-thing could live in an area big enough to run around without being hunted, and the collapsibility of the thing allowed Akon to maintain his nomadic lifestyle. He still missed his mother, but only attempted to open the gates when he was feeling particularly sad. He assumed she would come back one day, or he would find a way to go back home. His patience was theoretically limitless.

Towards the end of his two month stay, Akon learned his first two really valuable lessons: ignorance leads to consequences; mistakes are inevitable.

By now Kisuke usually went on these hunts alone; the fewer people who knew about Akon the better. Besides, there was no conceivable danger from which he could not fight or flee. And truthfully he preferred spending his time alone with his discovery. The other handful of shinigami who met Akon the first day could not see the potential in him; they were blind to the intelligence in his eyes; he was another joke interest of the wacko officer, a waste of time, foolish. But Kisuke understood what it meant to be misunderstood. He was not exactly _disliked_ by his fellow shinigami, but his personality certainly did not make him popular; overall most chose to avoid him. But he understood that. He was _odd_.

There was one woman who, for a fact, despised him. Unfortunately he could not just simply avoid her since she was his best friend's body guard. It was this young woman who ended Akon's trouble-free existence. He would secretly hold a grudge against her forever.

Suspicious about how Kisuke had suddenly started catching criminals faster than should be possible and in much larger numbers, Soifon followed him whenever she had any free time. Usually he was well aware of her poorly-disguised attempts and would then attempt to catch the target on his own, steering clear of Akon's territory just in case. But for whatever reason, on this particular day, Kisuke did not notice her until she dropped down from the canopy directly in front of him.

"What is the meaning of this? Is this how you've been cheating Urahara Kisuke?" Akon tensed after seeing his companion visibly grimace before fluidly transitioning into a disarmingly ignorant expression, doing that weird behavior where he scratched his neck and fidgeted a lot.

"Heheh, you caught me! But I'm not sure of exactly what you're accusing me of."

"Cheating!"

"Yes, but how? Heheh. And, er, what evidence do you have to show in support of your…well I won't say accusation, that seems a bit harsh, right? Your…guess."

She bristled, all of her tiny frame puffing outwards. Akon was familiar with this kind of display; he'd observed it on many occasions and across many species of wildlife. He wished his companion could be just as easily read.

"Guess?! This is no mere guess. You are _guilty_. Beyond any question or doubt. Clearly you have been using this," she gestured in Akon's general direction, "child to find your targets for you!"

Urahara laughed. "What?! Don't be ridiculous! A child this young?! Possessing tracking abilities beyond my own and— bahaha— thus yours also?"

Against what Akon thought was possible, the small female seemed to expand even more.

"Excuse me? That's—that's—that's _impossible!_ "

Akon was confused by this new sound. For the most part the variety of human speech he had been exposed to up until this point was very narrow. His sample size was small, and most of the events were similar (i.e. victims quivering in fear, and calm explanations and requests delivered by the shinigami.) This female specimen sounded disconcertingly like a snake. Similarly, her movements further reinforced his assessment that she was some kind of hunter preparing to strike.

And yet the other man had not reacted to any of her obvious signals at all. From Akon's observations, the appropriate responses were: to show submission, or to express aggression. Doing nothing meant that his word-ticket was stupid.

Kisuke just laughed. "You look so much girlier when you're flustered, Soifon, sir, you should try it more often."

Now the woman was growling while the other continued to chuckle. Yes this human had to be stupid. Akon calculated the risk of loosing his word-source and decided that he had to act.

As the woman took a small step forward, Akon jumped from behind Kisuke. Falling into a crouch, growling, baring his teeth, he stares at the enemy's throat. He has practiced these sorts of displays ever since he began observing them; in comparison, he is quite advanced in the technique.

Only then the man picks him up by the scruff of his rags (his garment could once have been considered a tunic before all the flames, mud, smoke, and water got to it, which was a long time ago.)

"Easy there boy. You wouldn't want to attack a friend, would you?"

Suspended in the air, Akon wiggles furiously to free himself, but to no avail. He had greatly underestimated the strength of the other's grip. His struggle ended as he went limp with confusion at the new word and the scoffing huff that was Soifon's response.

"We are not friends, Urahara Kisuke, not even close!"

Akon makes a disgruntled growl. The other man is ignoring his silent demands for an explanation of this word.

The other man visibly deflated, all the confidence in his posture suddenly disappearing, a pout surfaces on his face. "Aww. I thought we were. At least—"

" _Silence_!" The woman cuts him off, closing the small distance between him so that she could point an accusatory finger directly in the man's face.

"I don't know what this is exactly, but I am certain it is against the rules somehow! I demand an explanation why this acquaintance of yours was never reported!"

The man still seemed unfazed. "Uh, because I did report him?"

"LIAR! I've read _all_ the reports from you for the past year, _all of them_! Not a single word was spent on a feral boy out here in the outskirts!"

"Are you sure? Haha. Well, yeah, that's because, well, he's—my hobby!" This assertion came with a goofy grin, which only grew larger as the woman's eye began to twitch. "I mean, c'mmon now, Soifon, it's not like it's _illegal_ to make friends, now is it? And of course I would never presume to report such trivial minutiae to upper command! That would be a regrettable waste of Lady Yoruichi's time, don't you think?"

This time the female's face turned a deep scarlet as she began to pace in agitation. Her form remained rigidly fixated in its' expanded state. She held her stiff arms slightly away from her torso, fists clenched. The intention was obviously to make herself appear bigger, but Akon thought it looked more uncomfortable than threatening.

"It is not for the likes of you to decide what is or is not worth of Captain Shihoin's time, scum. I will escort you and your minion to report your misdeeds presently."

"But you don't even know what I've been doing, you said as much yourself."

"Regardless! The two of you are returning with me this instant! It will be much easier to get to the bottom of this in the presence of those you would not dare lie to!"

Kisuke shook his hand in a "no" gesture, keeping his smiling demeanor. "But I'm not lying! Haha. He's nothing, really, just a little side project, hah—," He trailed off as he observed the determination settling into his little comrade. She had found something which she thought was incriminating. There was no way she would ever let this go. He figured that if there was such a thing as fate, she was a real cruel lady for landing the one person he seemed to never be able to manipulate in any kind of way in such an important position opposing him. Damn. He really had wanted to expose the feral boy to society slowly. He obviously had a few select talents that could prove to be useful, and he had hoped to retain control over the development of such skills. But there was nothing for it. Every mistake came with some sort of punishment. Now he would have to see it through.

"Right, ok. You got me. I'll come easy. This time anyway." He winked.

Again the girl blushed as she blinked in confusion. She had not anticipated such a quick resolution.

Akon did not understand.

What were these fool humans talking about?

There was so much to understand.

He missed being home. He comprehended everything there. Sure there was no green. Everything tasted awful, the colors were muted, the air toxic, even the sounds were painful. But there was nothing there he did not know, at least in some primitive capacity.

And now the odd human male was kneeling down to his level and trying to explain why they had to _go,_ now.

Go? Go where? There was nothing else, right? This world was smaller than Hell; there were no levels here. Only more places like this.

Akon thought it might be kind of nice to live on the clouds.

These humans were irrational.

Stupid meant dead.

He darted into the foliage, sprinting from tree to tree in an upwards direction. Gravity is the best ally of anything small; knowledge of the terrain the best defense for a resident; stamina the advantage of the young. He would never make the mistake of speaking to another human ever again. No matter how nice their chains sounded. Words were too dangerous of a distraction, they had blinded him of danger. Never again would he allow himself the pleasure of looking at them again. Selfish fool.

What would mother think when she came back?

He ran into something soft. Only nothing in his field of vision existed except for trees. Instinctively he reached out, just as his eyes registered the woman in front of him.

What?

Their bodies collided and since he was smaller, he was the one to fall backwards. He felt her petite hands wrap around him to prevent him from falling off the tree.

Hell no.

His right middle fingertip barely brushed the final length of her soul chain.

Pain.

Nothing other than the events involved in his precipice world escape compared to the searing white flash resounding through his small frame. His spine twisted, writhed, jolted, trying to find a means to dispose of the energy stuck within his form. Every pore across his skin was ablaze. He could feel ice in every vein. Warm thick blood dribbled out of his nose down his chin. Agony.

Then the impact of the ground. What little gasps of breath he was capable of between spasms escaped. His teeth pierced his tongue. The rusty taste of blood poured over his taste buds.

No, not the ground. The connection hurt but not enough.

Then all the pain was suddenly gone from his body, along with all other sensations. His hearing was the last sense to go, but not before he heard another new sound.

"I'm sorry."

The odd male specimen must have broken his fall. He was holding some kind of bottle-dropper, some form of fast-acting magic (anesthetic.) That was his voice. Akon recognized it despite the different tone and intonation.

"What is this sorry?," was the last thing the boy thought before he lost consciousness. When he next would regain his senses, Akon would be in a completely new world. That was really why Kisuke felt pity.

Carrying the limp form of his hunting child, the shinigami easily leapt up to Soifon's position. The girl had all four limbs wrapped around the tree limb she occupied. Her face was buried in the bark. But what really concerned Kisuke was the real sign of weakness Soifon would never willingly show. She was shaking. Cautiously he knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Soifon?"

She jumped at the contact. She was up on her feet and two trees away before Kisuke could ask again. She was furious. He could see it in her strained posture, her lethal body radiated her intention to kill. Her breathing was irregular, but he could see that she was trying to bring herself back under control. Clenching and unclenching her small fists, rocking her body weight back and forth, taking deep inhales.

Her eyes, though, her fierce black eyes.

They did not calm down.

But they did prevent the tears collecting in the corners from escaping.

"What the hell happened? Soifon?"

He alighted on a limb closer to her. Soifon's whole body tensed as if she was prepared to flee to a safer distance. He watched her purposefully remain rooted in place.

Her voice betrayed her lack of control. It was too short, too clipped, too structured, too precise, too _forced_ somehow. "That thing is a monster. It should be eliminated immediately."

"Wait wait waaaait a minute. What did he do to you?" His sharp eyes noticed the smallest of tremors move over the girl's body.

"He—he— he _touched_ my soul chain! No, he _pulled_ it."

Kisuke balked. It was not often that anything could surprise the tricky man, but this—this went beyond the unexpected. Such intimate contact was beyond taboo. It was not even something souls were taught; when they come into this world this fact is just as obvious as breathing. Basic. Instinctual somehow.

The only exceptions were in cases involving murder, and by that point half of the involved parties would be unaware of the discomfort.

Just thinking about it made him want to wretch.

"He _what_?"

What fear existed in the female shinigami boiled along to join the already brimming amount of anger within her. He had planned this somehow. Damn him. To make a fool out of her.

"You!" She growled, advancing on the other.

He immediately began to retreat, but kept the alarm out of his voice.

"No way, I know just what you're thinking but no freaking way! I had absolutely _no_ idea he could do something like that. No. Idea!"

But was that really true? Kisuke suspected the boy of all the murders that had occurred within the area, but he had no evidence of how such a thing was possible without a weapon. Suddenly he knew the means. Or deduced them anyway. Yes this kid could turn out to be damn useful and damn that meddling Soifon for interfering! Damn damn damn.

"Please! Just be rational for a moment! If I thought that he was a threat I would not have hesitated before apprehending him! I know this kid. I've been visiting him for a few months now. Hasn't shown any indications of aggression or ill-intent. Promise you. All he wants is to learn!"

This stopped his pursuer momentarily. "Learn? Learn what? And this better not be another one of your tricks Urahara Kisuke!"

"No tricks! I swear! It's just that…Well, it's kinda hard to explain, but, uh—"

"Get on with it! I grow impatient of your stalling!"

"Oh! Well he's new around here. I think his parents must have raised him as a pet or something, it's like he doesn't know anything about…well, about…about being human, I guess. Like language! When I found him he knew maybe twenty words? Maybe less? But he's learned hundreds since then! Maybe thousands even?"

"So?! You're saying his life has value just because his vocabulary is bigger after a few weeks spent with you?"

"Err…Not exactly. He, uh, you know what? Just trust me on this. I know that's a lot to ask, but I promise I'll explain it all later. Alright? I'd rather just do it the one time, though, you know? Instead of over and over again. So what say you we just head on back to the barracks and sort it all out there?"

He was close to swaying her, he could tell by the slight slump in her posture, the way her gaze moved around without fixating on anything.

"I don't trust you," She mumbled.

Kisuke gave his best reserved smile. "I understand. I don't blame you for that. But it's not like he's any threat now that he's unconscious. We could do some basic binding spells if that would make you feel safer."

And her confidence was back. He mentally praised himself for extracting himself once again from a sticky situation.

"Safer?! I do not feel that I am in danger! That worm is nothing! Don't you know who I am?!"

Kisuke chuckled. "Right, right, my mistake, how foolish of me. Shall we?"

He followed in his comrades small footsteps, tuning out her mumbling insults and complaints. He managed to grab Akon's rabbit cage, collapse it, and hide it in his uniform without his fellow shinigami noticing. The rabbit went into one of his sleeves. Maybe they would be useful later, somehow.

[this took FOREVER bc of SOIFON aaarrgg! She is so difficult for me to hear, in general, so then trying to write a younger version just threw me down and beat me up. bc she seemed to be more emotive in the past? but it's also before she gets "betrayed." so she shouldn't be as angry as older Soifon? but at the same time younger=less control? idk? so I re-wrote this at least ten times. even though I had a clear idea of what was going to happen I just couldn't seem to get her correct…and I still probably didn't but whatever…further chapters should come sooner bc there will be less independent Soifon (bc she acts completely different when w/ Yoruichi)…and i'll do shorter chapters like this one (which was originally going to be just a tiny part of larger ch)…*shrugs*]


	5. washed away meetings

**ch 5: washed away meetings**

Silence. Pure unfiltered silence. Akon had grown used to the relative tranquility of the forest as compared to anywhere in Hell where the cries of the damned resounded everywhere always and under that layers of fires cracking morasses bubbling gasses hissing bones crunching howls. But even with no souls around to make much noise, there was always some kind of noise entering Akon's auditory system—creaking branches twisting leaves rippling water buzzing wings.

This. This was nothing. Even his own thoughts sounded like an echo behind his forehead. Disappearing. Drowned out by this blanket of quiet.

 _Mother what is this? Are you there?_

No reply.

Akon wills his eyes open, whipping his other senses to awareness.

He cannot move.

One small relief. One of the first things he perceives is a small weight resting against his neck. Soft fur pushing air whispering against his skin. Not-bug-not-bird-not-scaly-thing. The minor relief at feeling something familiar was replaced with a rapidly increasing anger. Not-bug-not-bird-not-scaly-thing had nothing to do with this; why would the humans capture it? It was much too small for food. He would make them regret not leaving the two of them in peace.

The surface on which he is lying is familiar. Wood sanded down with rocks and lashed together with vines. His cage. The one he made. They've put him inside the cage he built by himself to protect his small friend. Loathsome.

The vision in between the sticks is unfamiliar. Grey rocks like Akon could find by the river. But these were all roughly the same shape and size. The surface was flat overall. Perhaps this is what was under all the mud of a riverbed.

Although he cannot see much since his neck is still immobile, out of his peripheral vision Akon sees buildings for the first time. There are only ruins in Hell, and even the most in tact buildings barely resemble anything manmade. No structure with a roof, windows, or doors exist—only walls with spaces. But here— so many walls so close together. And odd breaks in the wall where rectangular wood pieces went. Pieces of cloth draped over empty spaces and sometimes on the wall itself. Why did the humans clothe the rock places? Why did they walk on riverbeds when such a blessing as grass existed here? Was this a place, like Hell, where trees did not exist? And what about all of the plants and animals he had seen? All he could see were people.

Tons and tons of people.

Suddenly Akon's deafness made sense. He was experiencing the exact opposite of pure silence, the cacophony of thousands of chains singing to him all at once. City. His mother had muttered something about a city once. He could never have imagined so many people existed, let alone in one place.

It hurt.

His panic to discover anything useful about his surroundings had temporarily blocked his sense of pain. And now he experienced the true agony of sensory overload as millions of souls stretched over all soul society pinged off one another. Desperate, he tries to hear any familiar forms from near his forest territory.

Nothing.

From the time he lost consciousness to this moment, he had been moved against his will farther than he had ever traveled in his wanderings through the underworld. Judging by his sensations, Akon realized that this place had to be at least ten times the size of his homeland. (He was wrong; it's more like one hundred times. This is because Akon did not know that Hell only contains roughly %0.215 of all souls at any given time. And his comprehension of geographical size was ignorantly based on population.)

He must have been whimpering. Or maybe the shinigami just had a knack for good timing. A familiar rag of blond hair entered the boy's peripheral.

"It's ok, Akon. We're almost there and then I'll let you out."

Although Akon can see that Kisuke is right next to him, holding the cage actually, his senses tell him that the man is all the way across the street. He can see the other's mouth form the words; but the sounds take longer than they should to reverberate through his ear canals. The effect is something Akon knows is impossible—the image and the sound are out of synch. Completely disorienting for someone still struggling towards fluency in a new language.

The female is not here. She is…Too many people cloud his perception. He can perceive the sound of her chain but he cannot triangulate her direction or distance from himself.

"Just you wait—you're going to love it here! The candy is superb and the company divine. Much comfier than your old hole, you'll see."

Mismatched distortion again. A new nuance of discomfort as his brain tries to resolve the difference.

The boy shuts his eyes and tries to _be_ at home.

Kisuke ignores all the stares as he takes the last few turns to the main office in squad two. He already had a reputation for doing the _inexplicable_ but apparently walking around with an unconscious child in a wooden cage was the point that the average shinigami passed over "the line" and decided to rudely gape. He had brought the cage as proof that his find was intelligent. That he could _learn_. The rabbit was an afterthought. Maybe it could help win the feral soul over somehow. Probably not since trust did not typically appear out of rabbits returned to captives, but hey, he tried to always avoid missing any possibilities.

Speaking of missed possibilities, Kisuke finally spots Lieutenant Marenoshin Ōmaeda in the crowd. Damn. He had expected to return to a curious captain and her grumpy bodyguard, not his lummox Lieutenant. It really was the worst kind of torture to act as a subordinate to someone he could easily best blindfolded with only one hand. Especially when the particular superior was a pompous entitled ass.

The minute Marenoshin spotted Kisuke, he pointed a chubby ringed finger straight at his head across the courtyard.

"Hurry up Urahara I haven't got the time to wait around for commoners and dogs all day."

Akon opened one eye to a slit when he heard his companion's teeth begin to grind. What was this odd human reacting to? The large man?

This was Akon's first encounter with anyone remotely overweight. Sinners in Hell are all emaciated with starvation; and the denizens of the outskirts of soul society were not much better. From his observations of shinigami he learned much about musculature and the benefits of good nutrition. His current subject of interest also had plenty of muscle, but Akon detected something else as well (fat.) He was also perplexed by all the man's jewelry. Akon had no idea what was draped around the man's neck, and choking his stubby fingers. Some kind of shiny snakes? No these things were dead. Shiny skeletons then, perhaps. But why would humans bother with such a thing?

Akon's first introduction to wealth was interrupted by falling back in his cage as the large man yanked the prisoner out of Kisuke's grasp as soon as he was within reach.

"Hey! Be careful! There's no reason to be rough with him or anything. I don't know what Soifon told you, but he's perfectly docile…most of the time anyway."

"You don't tell me what to do, poorboy, I tell _you_ what to do."

"Yes sir."

Akon could hear how tightly his acquaintance shut his jaw. Nothing had physically changed, but Akon could feel the change in the tension between the two men _not_ staring each other down. Rather, they were deliberately looking in different directions while also managing to shoot glares out of the corners of their eyes. Now this was the kind of altercation he had expected in the forest with that woman. So why did the blond become offensive, now, when the fat man had not shown any signs of aggression. It must have had something to do with the words.

Akon did not understand.

"Now get your ass to Captain Shihōin's office. Immediately."

"What about—?"

The larger shinigami cut off the other's question. "That's none of ya business, worm—now off with you!"

"At least let me say goodbye! He's new to all this." He gestured around the bustling squad two barracks. Akon did not think the blond understood how much of an understatement he had just made.

"Tch." Marenoshin rolled his eyes. That was a new behavior to add to Akon's growing list of gaps in his knowledge. Animals only rolled their eyes when they were sick (rabid) or terrified. But this man was showing signs of neither.

"Whatever, Urahara, just get on with it already!"

"Yes sir." Kisuke's innocent grin entered Akon's field of vision again. Much to his displeasure he still could not move. He very much wanted to scratch those upturned lips clear off.

"Well I'll see you later Akon. Just do whatever they tell you to and you'll be just fine. Ok? Easy. You can be a good boy, right? It's best if you cooperate. I'll even give you half of my personal stash of books if you try your best! And that's a great deal, let me tell you."

Akon blinked back owlishly. He was still unclear about what was going on. Then the face disappeared. He heard his cage open from above his head. Then the oddest thing Akon experienced up to this point nearly startled him out of his skin. Something that felt like a hand touched him on the head and ruffled his hair. But then it retreated and he heard a peppy "catch you later, friend!" as the cage shut again.

As Kisuke's body again entered Akon's vision as he walked away, Akon noticed the ball of fur hidden in his rags was gone. The blond shinigami turned around and winked, turning his sleeve at such an angle that only Akon would be able to see the two tiny beady eyes of a rabbit. What was the meaning behind that eye twitch? And why bother to steal his pet away for a second time? Where was he even going?

Despite the absolute fact that Akon now considered his former word-source an enemy, he felt sad watching the patch of disheveled hair disappear into the crowd. A familiar face, even one of an idiotic demon, was oddly comforting in a new world.

Not that Akon had much time to feel anything except the monumental headache throbbing behind his eyes. And then there was the discomfort of being carried by an oaf who thought that swinging his cage was amusing. Akon suddenly gained an entirely new appreciation of Urahara's ability to hold things still.

The lummox muttered to himself the whole way across the barracks. Instead of sounding far away as Kisuke's voice had seemed, it was as if the Lieutenant was shouting directly into Akon's ear. Whatever distortion was happening to confuse Akon's senses, it was getting worse. The synchronization between all of his senses was even further off than before. Akon deduced that part of the problem was the confusion screaming from his olfactory senses. This "Ōmaeda" fellow had an odd overwhelming scent about him. It was musky, but in a way that was neither human nor animal; yet also floral but mostly chemical. [a/n: cologne] This was the closest thing to home Akon had smelt since his arrival in the soul society other than campfires. Nostalgia washed over the lost boy; homesickness swelled to nauseating level in his chest.

Closing his eyes, Akon let the smell take him back home where he belonged.

Akon woke to the sensation of the floor falling out from him. He was completely awake by the time his head thudded against a straw-mat floor. He had no opportunity to look around before he was tossed into a warm body of water. Panicking, he thrashes about, unable to swim. Drowning. That was their word for death via water filling the lungs (although he was still not entirely sure what lungs were beyond something that made breathing possible located in his chest somewhere.)

His fear turns to anger as he is lifted up into the air by his long matted hair.

"Gettup you! Ain't you ever bathed before, trash?"

Akon recognized the cage-swinging lard and scowled. Apparently this was some form of cruel human trick. He was standing in some kind of wooden container filled with warm water. How and where that water came from was a mystery, as was the beige block the other man was trying to shove into his hand.

"Here! You smell god awful. Bathe, idiot."

Akon did not understand.

No matter what the Lieutenant yelled, Akon did not understand.

So he stood in the water, stooped over a little so only his eyes and nose were above the surface. It was not unpleasant. Aside from the initial shock this was not a very good torture. Akon thought about how soft the humans in soul society must be if this was supposed to harm them.

Eventually the other gave up and yelled something out of the door (or the swinging-wood-in-wall as Akon saw it.)

Momentarily a robust woman appeared. The two had a conversation in the doorway, then the short lady marched straight at the poor clueless boy late to his first washing. He did not know it, but this was a well-renowned nursemaid who had reared many a noble child into aristocracy, who just happened to be working for the Shihoin clan at the time.

She had not worked with a poor child since her own youthful days in the gutter, but to be fair her experiences there could not have prepared her for the layers of filth around Akon. It kind of acted as an exoskeleton. Akon very much mourned for it after she scrubbed it all away.

It took several hours. His hair was the worst part. It had never been cut (although it had been scorched several times) nor washed. Akon used it like a small bag to carry his tools in. She threw all of them away. And the stash of nuts he had started hoarding for the days when he could not find anything to eat. She only left a slight layer of fuzz on his head.

At least the hair problem did not involve her _touching_ him. She scrubbed, rubbed, scraped, brushed _all over_ with all kinds of brushes as well as her hands until all of his old skin had been clearly removed leaving him entirely _pink_.

His humiliation was complete when she dressed him in a small shinigami uniform.

He hated it. All of it.

But he did not retaliate. His senses were still adjusting to the sheer amount of people around. He was still in a great deal of pain, but he noted that it was steadily decreasing. By his estimation he would arrive at merely feeling uncomfortable within ten hours. However, amidst his acclimation, the mere thought of using his power now made him wretch.

It was cold. Without his second skin and hair. He had never felt the sensation before. The way the air shifted around his skin, the way water dropped off his fingertips, the cloth moving as he did, warmth radiating from the sun—all of it. And that was…frightening but blissful, the same kind of confused aches he felt when he first started to explore this green world.

He wished that his mother was here to see everything. And so he could ask her what to think.

The Lieutenant led him to a room and locked him inside, throwing in the collapsed cage as an afterthought.

"Wait here!"

Well that was rather obvious. One quick scan showed Akon that there was no way out. The cell was thirty of his small steps across and just as many from front to back. He estimated the ceiling was about five of his height.

There were no windows.

The door disappeared into the wall when sealed properly with kidō.

First he removed the odd things from his feet—first the twined flat things with straps, then the cloth things. No way was he ever going to wear socks or shoes ever again.

Akon sat in the farthest corner atop his cage. The wood was warmer than the stone floor.

He tried to pretend that he was in a burrow in his forest. Or even a rough trench back home.

He had certainly slept in more cramped places before.

There was plenty of room here.

Rationally he had no reason to be afraid of a closed room.

Akon curls into the tightest ball that he can, shoving his head in-between his arms crossed over his folded legs.

All of these people here. None of them felt anything like his mother.

None of them felt anything like him.

The world was different from how he understood it.

He would master it. All of the secrets of this world and any other. Anything to prevent this unknown feeling swelling under his skin from ever happening again.

Akon would understand.

[a/n: so to clarify—his ability includes being able to sense soul chains but not necessarily essence chains…because that would mean he could tell the layout of anything from far away? kind of like echolocation. maybe he could do that for a short period of time in bankai or something. but that's too cumbersome overall so he can only sense "living" humanoid things. BECAUSE. the sense itself is something like: how dogs can track an old scent for miles; certain birds can see tiny details miles away; snakes using heat for vision; synesthesia in general. so multiple levels of perception create some sort of image in his head.]

The boy did not sleep; but restless nights were not unusual for him.

Without anything but a glowing orb of light in the room, Akon had no concept of how much time passed before the tedium was broken when the door opened again.

It was someone different this time. Another female, but this one was taller than any of the other humans he had seen in this world before. She put some funny kind of ropes around his hands, feet, and neck. Only they were not ropes at all, nor were they stone. It was metal. Hand and ankle cuffs and a choker laced with powerful restraining kidō spells. Akon had never seen or felt anything like it before. The closest comparison he could make was when he was crushed by debris one time when he was tracking his mother across Hell. Pressure squeezing so hard all over his body he felt like he might explode. So tight he felt as if he could not move without collapsing.

Which was incorrect. Akon did move, after a bit of prompting. He found that he could move freely, more-or-less. Whatever these things on him were certainly slowed him down. But his pain was mostly gone. It was like being back in the forest. He could perceive with great accuracy the exact position of souls nearby…only his range seemed to be greatly diminished. Regardless, Akon was grateful for the reprieve, even if it turned out to be temporary.

He has to jog to keep up with the woman's long stride. She never looks back to see if he is following, not even once.

Nothing looks familiar. Akon wishes he could investigate further. If only she slowed down he could _see_ so much more. But instead most of his attention is held by his hakama. The pants are a bit too long and he has to work very hard to avoid tripping. His newly scrubbed feet, covered by his pants, quickly become covered in cuts. For the countless time since yesterday he cursed that warm water scrub demon.

Eventually they reach an ornate double door. An intricate design depicting a clan war against a hollow army is carved into the wood. Now this is some human nonsense Akon is amazed by. This is his first time experiencing anything remotely close to being defined as "art." There seemed to be no purpose to it, but it was beautiful. He wanted to ask the woman, but she opened the door and pushed him through the gap before he could remember the words to phrase such an inquiry.

There is a large elegantly-embroidered rug laid out over an even larger room. The space is beyond excessive. There are more carvings on columns supporting the sky-high roof. Extravagant tapestries cover huge portions of the stone walls, each displaying more and more masterfully complicated designs. Light floods in from countless windows, some of which are even on the ceiling. The wood flooring seems to stretch to the horizon itself. Akon has never seen a structure so big…But the handful of humans about were all on the rug, off to one side. Most inefficient.

Akon recognizes Urahara, the abrasive female he had called Soifon, and the fat Lieutenant (whatever that meant.) It must be a smaller world than Akon thought, for all of the people he had bothered studying intently to occupy the same room at the same time. Perhaps he had overestimated the amount of people in soul society. Something else might be tampering with his abilities, somehow clouding his judgement. And the purpose of the restraints was to remove this influence so that he could perceive clearly again. This realization was the only hint of comfort Akon would feel for a very long time.

In addition, there were a handful of souls with their faces covered standing at seemingly random places around the room. He could even tell there were several on the rafters. Akon looks in the general direction of each and nods his head to acknowledge their presence. He hears the tall female hiss when he does so. Apparently he had done something wrong.

The final member of the small group is the most interesting, sitting at the center of everything. Akon doubts that they are aware of it, but somehow the chimes of all of their chains are following the beat her own song's whispers. At first he cannot perceive her chain at all. Which was an impossibility since nothingness (anything without a chain) had a unique appearance he had only encountered once (on the day he came to this world.) Yet his eyes reinforce her presence, along with the way that the others subtly move when she does. Like gravity and orbiting objects in a system. A word his mother used once came to him. Queen. This must be the leader of all the shinigami.

She was also the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Granted, his sample size was very small. Hell had a way of corrupting any and all beauty. And from his observations, this world had a lack of females in general. But even if either of those conditions were not true, Akon figured she would still be a strong contender for the most beautiful. However, she might not win if only because there was something about her which automatically made him uneasy. As soon as he saw her, his adrenaline spiked.

By the time the two reached the small group on the rug, Akon figured it out. All of the small mysteries could be explained with one piece of logic: this woman was something more than she seemed. She was not _just_ feminine, but feline. He failed to perceive her chain because it looked and sounded, in many ways, like a cat's. The part of him which was so determined to _survive_ that it had dragged him through the precipice world and into soul society went on in his unconscious, unhindered by all of the different fogs clouding his ability ever since coming into the city.

 _Cat cat cat cat meow cat cat_ run _cat_ bow _cat_ do _cat_ as they ask _cat cat cat cat cat purr meow cat_ that woman

He could hear her voice, again. So long she had been silent. Absent. She who had spoken a constant stream of words when he was young and alone. She helped him find mother over and over again in Hell. She had taught him how to follow chains; how to rip them away. All of the words and what they meant. Who he was.

But instead of relief or joy at the return of an old friend, Akon only felt anger. Why had she abandoned him all of the times he desperately sought a way _back_? If she knew so much how could she let him drown in his own ignorance?

Her answer: _catcatcatcat_ die _catcatcat_ alldie _catcatcatcat_ kill _catcatcat_ die _catcat_

That was no help to the boy, only a distraction.

So he turned to study the Queen's barely perceptible chain once more. It was too bright to look at directly, he had to look to her left and right sides. Only empty at the same time like an abyss. The sound was so quiet. He might have mistaken it for other notes within the tones of those around her. But then he remembered that he had made the same mistake yesterday.

Sometimes the absence of something was the evidence of its' presence.

Whoever she was, he was immediately enthralled by her. The first person other than mother he really wanted to please, a place to request acceptance.

He approaches and greets her as he has observed other cats in the forest meet—with a meow. Akon is unable to perform the traditional head butt because he is suddenly high in the air.

[the chains have weak kidō spells on them intended to restrain his abilities. at this point none of them have seen what he can do, but the assumption is that he has killed=dangerous. but not too threatening because he's a kid. what this actually did was help him cancel out the "noise" of all the soul chains in the city, allowing him enough clarity to once again be able to perceive individual souls and their position.

[the look/feel/intensity of soul chains is roughly based on reiatsu (spiritual pressure.) as in it's visible as light, there's an atmospheric pressure involved, it's individual (like scent or blood), can be tracked/leaves residue…but what he's seeing while under the binding spells is reiryoku, which is the stored equivalent…so he's seeing something that's supposedly hidden/controlled]  
[his main ability involves perceiving reiryoku. but he can still feel reiatsu (many shinigami can anyway)…at this point the reiatsu is "noise" distorting his senses. he never had to deal with this before since he has not encountered large concentrated groups of people w/ any kind of powerful spiritual pressures.


	6. queen cat amusement

**ch 6 queen cat amusement**

[a/n: I researched more! and canonical info is scarce but— shinigami soul chains are actually called saketsu/binding chains. and it's not a chain per se but the location where the soul chain was originally? It's associated with Hakusui/soul sleep which is the "source" of spiritual power…so together they allow spiritual power to be controlled? they're both pressure points which can be used to seal/take power away. Apparently Uryū shoots through Cirucci's saketsu which seals her arrancar powers. so arrancar have them too. ? I'm more or less ignoring this and continuing with a concept of a ghost-type soul chain on dead humanoids. because that still could work since there are no existing (to my knowledge) canon depictions of "saketsu"…so we're going to pretend saketsu looks like a chain. to distinguish between a regular soul and shinigami, regular souls only have the hakusi "base." since it's all tied up with spiritual power, the saketsu chains Akon can see vary depending on the person's power; but like with zanpakuto bigger is not always stronger.]

By the time his well-intentioned meow was ending, Akon knew that he had made a terrible mistake. Humans made absolutely no sense.

And now the fat Lieutenant was holding him sky high by the neck and shaking him while the small woman from the forest before was pinching his legs all over and asking all sorts of stupid questions.

 _kill_ _killkill_ them _killkill_ them _killkillkillkillkill_ all _kill_ now _kill_ before _kill_ it's _kill_ too _kill_ late _killkillkill killkill_ run

His word-source was just staring, mouth open. Hand up, frozen halfway in a "stop" motion. Complete moron.

The Queen had not moved. A decidedly feline grin spread over her gorgeous face.

"That's alright Ōmaeda, I'm sure he meant no _harm_." The last word was a purr.

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_ Run

The young girl spun around, her intense love of her captain all-too obvious in the overly-aggressive nature of her voice, the strained muscles ready to attack. Akon recognized this ferocity. She just wanted to be seen.

"But Captain! This wretch just—just—just _meowed_ at you! He must be interrogated about how he came to find out your secret and then executed, immediately! Furthermore I can think of no other way for him to have come about this information then _that_ man! He must also face punishment!"

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_ _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_ RUN

Again an accusatory finger pointed at Kisuke, who was on his feet, rationally delivering an alternate explanation before her finger even reached her waist in its' ascension upwards. At the same time, Ōmaeda continued his thrashing of the boy while shouting variations of "how dare you" over and over until Akon's face was covered in the man's saliva.

The Queen laughed. Akon was immediately filled with an urgent need to hear that sound again.

"Down Ōmaeda." The Queen gestured to the floor. After a begrudging growl the man dropped him, then crossed his arms and continued to mutter threats Akon did not bother trying to interpret.

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_ _RUN_

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_ _RUN_

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_ _RUN_

"But-but!" The girl leapt upon Akon, pinning him to the floor.

"Shhh." The Queen held a slender finger to her lips. "It's fine Soifon. That's enough."

Just as fast as her tackle, her weight on his chest was gone. When he sat up, Akon noticed that the girl's face turned a deep red. Her whole body puffed out in aggression seemed to deflate into a form not much bigger than his own. And suddenly she seemed intent on studying the floor instead of watching the threat.

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_

Akon did not understand.

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_

The woman approached. Slowly. Intentionally. Jungle cat nearing in on her cornered prey.

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_

Akon did not understand.

 _kill_ _killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill_

But he was not afraid.

If she wanted him dead, he would be. Humans were simple in that regard. Usually.

 _ssshhhhhhhhh_

Akon tilts his head to the side to signal his confusion. That's what the animals and birds did sometimes.

Suddenly a familiar back was in front of him. That stupid back he had followed around the forest just because he was greedy for knowledge. Mistake.

"Wait! I'm sure he—."

 _KILLssshh_

A graceful hand alighted upon the shinigami's shoulder. Akon saw the man look back down at him with another expression he did not comprehend. Then he also withdrew to the sidelines with the others, expression blank.

 _ssshhh_

The Queen smiles again, elegantly sitting on her knees to be level with Akon. Her grin widens as she extends her hand.

"I am Yoruichi Shihōin. Leader of the Shihōin clan, captain of the Second Division of the Gotei 13, and the commander of the Onmitsukidō. And I would like to know who has the gall to make animal noises at me in my own hall; and how he came about the knowledge associated with that sound."

There was a long pause as the two looked at one another. Akon could practically hear the other three spectators tense in expectation. He remained still. Never back down from a wild animal. To do so would mean death.

Especially when the animal's smile grows ever wider.

It is the girl who breaks the long silence. Akon feels the sudden pressure of a small foot on his back and is flat on the ground again. Why were humans so fixated on knocking him over?

"Bow wretch! How _dare_ you posture as an equal?! How—"

Another shiver-inducing laugh echoes through the empty space. The moment broken, the huntress looses interest.

"That's alright. I haven't had the satisfaction of a good staring contest in ages. And it's been far longer than that since my titles have been wasted. Well done boy. Join us for awhile. Help yourself."

The Queen moved back to her formal lounging position. The others followed her example, only settled into rigidly formal seated positions. Akon remained sprawled across the floor.

He did not understand.

If he could have helped himself he would have.

He did not understand.

The tall female picked him up and placed him on his feet in a gap in the small circle, then sat down herself.

He did not understand. Shh.

Akon took the chance to inspect the collection of items placed on the carpet. All sorts of shapes and colors in round, hollowed out things and flat things too. Some stuff was hot, one of which was what they called _rice_ , he could see the steam. He had read about rice. The grains were much smaller than he had imagined. The tall woman took up an oddly shaped something that was a container of some kind only it came to a point on one end. When she tilted it, much to Akon's surprise, steaming liquid poured out into the small round taller things over which she held the oddity. She kept stopping to hand out these cylinders to the others, and doing that weird human bob thing.

He did not understand.

The humans started eating all the odd things. They held sticks to do it. And did not eat the round and flat objects on the bottom.

He did not understand.

 _Help._

And the tall woman kept offering him these things-stacked-on-things-some-of-which-were-edible. Akon shook his head no so many times he though his head would pop off at any moment.

He did not understand.

 _That_ melodious voice.

 _Shhh_

"You're a wild little thing, aren't you? No one has shown you how to _behave_."

He turned to face the Queen, head tilted to signal his confusion again, blinking so there was no suspicion of any kind of challenge on his part.

"Hmm. Can't he speak?"

This was directed at his word-source.

"Yes I believe so, sir. He, uh, well mumbles to himself a lot. In a language I've never heard no less. I could never get him to tell me where he's from though."

"Hmm. An obscure language? It must be similar to _something_."

This hum smile she kept doing. It fascinated him. He wanted more of this sound.

His distracting word source was doing that damn smile thing again, scratching his neck. Given his recent discovery of human "bathing," Akon could now safely deduce that this behavior was a result of a rash of some kind. Or fleas. Of course humans would be more susceptible to skin problems if they were always scrubbing off the protection of the earth! Why had he never questioned their skin before?

 _killkill?shhhkill?shhhshhh_

"Huh. Yeeaahh…Well, that's where it gets stranger for sure. 'Cus the thing is I can't think of a single thing to compare it to." He shrugged. "It's more like animal noises than anything. Or insects. I couldn't detect any kind of pattern. Perhaps if I had a bit more time?"

The Queen raised an eyebrow, grinning again.

"Haven't you kept this discovery from me long enough?"

Akon witnessed his word-source suddenly dissolve into something more similar to the fidgety girl. All wiggling and blush and fast words all over the place. And an awful lot of "sir"s. Only it seemed _fake_ somehow in a way that Akon could not pinpoint. It reminded him of the flimsy things called shoes. The fat man snorted. He started bickering with the smallest female, who puffed up again to meet his challenge.

Akon started when he felt a hand touch the back of his calf.

Tall female whispering.

Only Akon had never heard a whisper before.

In Hell there are only screams; and here he had not yet had the opportunity to become acquainted with such a concept.

He could still hear the familiar intonation of Kisuke, and occasionally the other precious voice, plus the gruff barking and shrill whining. It was a relief that humans still talked over one another, but maybe this girl was the only one who could not. He felt sorry for her since her voice was so inherently quiet. That must have been inconvenient when she needed to below territorially.

"When sitting down amongst anyone of a higher rank, you bow like this." She demonstrated kneeling and then bending over, hands on the ground curved inward towards one another. Then gracefully straightened. "You're really young so this is what you should do all of the time. Do you understand?"

Perhaps it was because he felt sorry for the woman or for his growing repertoire of mistakes. But for whatever reason Akon complied, performing the action with ease.

 _ShhhhhhhhhShhhhhShh_

And suddenly it was all quiet again. They were all looking at him.

He did not understand.

"Hmm. So you can learn, my young wild catch? Could you do that again? For _me_?"

Akon nodded and repeated the easy task. When he sat up, the Queen was smiling. At _him_. Or at least in his general direction. The small leap in his chest. The humans had a name for that. Gratification. Akon liked that. He wanted more.

"Not bad. Your posture is good for a beginner."

Akon nodded to convey that he understood. He was a bit too enthusiastic in his approach, but the message was clear so he was satisfied. He wanted to make sure she knew he wanted to please her by doing what she commanded.

The Queen set aside her food, moving into Akon's personal space and again sitting on her legs in front of him. He resisted the urge to back away but allowed his eyes to remain on the ground.

"Do you know why you're here? Little wild thing?"

Akon shook his head no. Under his eyelids he could see Yoruichi inch closer, hear the swish of her clothes, smell her lavender-soaked skin. A forest kind of smell was below that. A knot-perch on the sunny side of an old birch tree.

 _ShhhShhShhhh_

He did not understand.

When he finally looked up her nose was inches away. A disarmingly charming smile. Open eyes. Golden depthless curious. His gaze darted back down again.

Akon made an affirmative noise and pointed at Kisuke. When nothing happened he gestured then toward Soifon, then Omaeda, and finally the tall woman.

"Yes these are the shinigami who brought you here. That is the _how_ of the thing, not the _why_."

He did not understand.

Akon whimpers ever so softly.

 _Shhh_

"Alright, then, perhaps we should start somewhere easier. Look up at me and answer this question: do you know your name? I swear I have no intention of harming you."

Akon was not in the least bit convinced about the last statement, but he looked up anyway because she asked him to. He had learned a long time ago that one was never out of danger; that each person had a hurtful intention somewhere within them. Yet looking away would change nothing so why bother.

"Akon."

"Akon? What else?"

"Akon." A long pause. He had already been over this with that Kisuke person at least a dozen times. He did not understand why humans were so determined that he was hiding a second name somewhere.

"Akon…justtt Akon…no m-more."

"Oh. Hmm. Alright then. What did I say my name is?"

"Jo…Yo-rue-eee-chii."

"Close. Yoruichi. Fast like that, see?" The woman sent a warning glance at her bodyguard who was barely containing her urgent need to insert some honorifics somewhere.

"Yourueichee."

"Close enough, kid. What else?"

"mmm…mmm…" Akon shook his head. "Loots us stufft…Lotsastuf…A lot…of…stuff."

Yoruichi laughed again, bright and light and holy. Or so it sounded to Akon anyway.

"Yeah there is a lot to my name, huh? Now. What about the others? Could you tell me their names?"

Akon gave her a confused look. He had assumed that she was acquainted with the same people in her party. Perhaps Queens did not have to remember such things.

It took too long for him to form the sounds in his head, he could tell she was beginning to think he was slow. Stupid stupid sounds from his rarely used vocal chords spilling out of his damn lips with flips from his cursed tongue. Ruining everything. Names were tricky things they didn't come in books so much.

Frustrated, he scratches his arms leaving long red trails down his skin.

 _Stupidstupidstupidnotgoodenoughstupid_

The Queen's hand stopped his own. Her hands were calloused which surprised him. Still soft though.

"That's fine, it's not worth all that."

Akon whimpered again, cracking his toes against the floor in another demonstration of his frustration. One of his newly-formed scabs broke. He could feel a small drop of blood welling to the surface.

Which gave him an idea.

Akon dipped his finger in his own blood and frantically spelled out the names of the three people he knew on the carpet.

Apparently this was a mistake since small girl and fat man got real angry when he did this. They were both suddenly at his side, yelling something at him. And tall woman made a gasping noise, covering her mouth with both hands. The shadow of the tragically familiar mop of blond hair appeared in front of Akon, partially obscuring his work, signaling to him that his "friend" had appeared behind him.

Yoruichi made a dismissive wave and the two guard dogs calmed down, still shooting all levels of murderous intent his way. They were both easily ignored, though, Akon found.

When he was finished he added his own name and Yoruichi's, then pointed at the woman and drew a question.

"Mori. I'm Mori Chiyaki." The tall one bowed again. Akon thought for a few seconds, then added her name to his bloody record.

"Remarkable."

That was the Kisuke-man. Akon pointed at the question symbol on the floor and made a chirpy sound.

"Oh! Remarkable? Hmm. Like surprising? But in a good way! Worthy of noticing or remembering, like unique, you know?"

Akon tilted his head so far sideways he nearly toppled over. Writing was not "remarkable." The man himself had lent him seven books full of the damn things.

Humans were so illogical.

"Ree-maa-coo-ble?" Akon murmured to himself. What a foolish concept.

"Well that confirms one of your suspicious, anyway."

That was the Queen.

"Yeah, how about that?"

And that was the Fool.

Yoruichi shook her head in disbelief. "I don't know how you always manage to find trouble."

The Fool grinned, scratching his head again. Akon had severely underestimated the amount of rash the man had. "Oh I dunno, it's a talent I guess. Weird that I kinda stumbled upon him on my own, though. This level of debacle is more like something we'd encounter _together_."

This was another new thing for Akon to not understand. He double checked to make sure, but there were three other people including himself literally right next to this odd pair. And yet it seemed like they were all invisible; like it was just the two of them sequestered off somewhere.

And apparently this was no new development, Akon found, as the small angry young female made huffing noises and the big fellow rolled his eyes again and the tall girl did her best to thoroughly examine Akon's work.

"…Oh! Sir, right. Sorry, heh."

This did not placate the still posturing small girl, who turned a bright red when Yoruichi started laughing again.

Akon did not understand.

He did not get an opportunity to further analyze the situation before the Queen ascended to her feet.

"Well this was a start anyway. Unfortunately I have to take my leave. I expect all of you to help this useful boy loosen up enough to tell us his story. Also start testing the limits of this ability of his. We'll prepare him to take the entrance exam in three months. It's been almost a decade since squad two scouted any useful talent."

Soifon jumped to her feet. "But sir he's-he's—,"

The Queen cut her off with a cool glare. "I hope you do not mean to insult the abilities of your own division by using such an incorrect term as dangerous."

The girl turned red again, waving her arms no. "Captain that's not—I only meant—Well aren't we supposed to report stuff like this?! He's from the recent danger area, he might know something, so we should…report his capture to upper command, Captain."

"Hmm? Why? There's no point in doing so without bringing in new evidence. Also then someone else might want to take him in. Like Captain Hikifune. She has a soft spot for troubled wild youth. Besides, a hunting dog best belongs here, not cooped up somewhere being experimented on, don't you think? Now let's go, I'm already running late." The Captain gracefully turned on her heel and walked away, pausing to ruffle his hair. Akon wanted to follow her. This Queen was the one with power, with answers. If anyone could help him go back home she might. But he understood the command "stay" without having to be taught.

"Sir." The small bodyguard bowed and followed her mistress out of the room, turning a foursome scowl over her shoulder at Akon. He stared right back, completely unimpressed. The big man and tall woman left in separate directions, nodding and grunting goodbyes. What an odd bunch.

A hand on his shoulder interrupted his musings. Akon turned to find that-troublesome-person-Kisuke squatting down to his level. He was already tired of adults doing that. It did not make him anymore comfortable or feel any more equal.

"Looks like I was right, huh? That wasn't so bad! Little iffy there several times, but—you did good! Your reward, as promised."

The shinigami gestured to a small stack of books Akon would have sworn were not there a moment ago. Where did the odd man magic them from? He cautiously approached the stack, tilting his head to read the titles. Mostly textbooks. Excellent.

"Oh! And you may also have your rabbit back."

Not-bug-not-bird-not-scaly-thing was carefully handed over to the boy. Akon felt something close to happiness as he held his animal friend tight to his chest. A flicker of a natural smile poked through his expressionless face.

"Little guy's been quite a nice arm warmer though. Kinda halfway considering getting one for each sleeve. Maybe you could help me pick some out. You've got excellent taste. Speaking of taste—aren't you hungry? There's still a lot of food here…shame to waste. It's kinda hard to eat around lovely ladies, huh? No problem here now, though, just you and me."

Akon purposefully looked in the direction of the guards evenly stationed throughout the hall.

"Oh them? They're not paying attention. Not much anyway. So please have at it."

Akon dubiously eyed the spread again. Scowling he shuffled back over to his question mark and scuffed it with his foot several times. Then he pointed at the items.

"Huh…you don't know what any of this is? Not even these?" Urahara held up plate after plate of fruits, veggies, and nuts common around the forests.

Akon shook his head "no."

"Then whatcha been eating?"

Akon looked around. He was unsure how to phrase this in writing…maybe pantomime was better.

He bit down on himself hard enough to draw blood.

"Hey!" The man started, jumping up with his hand out. "Don't do that! If you don't know something work it out. I can help you."

Akon shook his head "no" again. Humans were so stupid. He would have to try to use their words apparently.

"…Nuh…zis," he gestured to all of the dishes in turn, moving around in a circle. "Dis," he licked the blood dripping from his arms.

Akon saw the shinigami's eyes widen slightly.

"…Not…yourself? That's not…sustainable…"

Akon shook his head "no." "Nu Akon…it…ee-ae-t…ossir…otter…uhtthurr…grr." Annoyed at speaking he stomped over Kisuke and attempted to bite him. His victim easily pulled out of his grasp. He was not really hunting after all.

"Waaait…you…you ate 'others'? You ate people?"

Akon nodded a "yes." Finally. Obvious things were obvious.

This time the man's eyebrows also jumped with his eyes. "Shit! Whoops." He covered his hand with his mouth, then cupped it to whisper, "Don't tell that to anybody else, ok? That's…that's…not good."

"Nhott ghed?"

"Yeah…pretty bad really. So let's keep that a secret between you and me, ok? Do you know what secret means, Akon?"

Akon blinked owlishly. Another human oddity with which he was unfamiliar. "No…tek whun axes…No ghev inn-foo-rrum-maa-ton. No eve spek."

"Yeah, good, something like that. Just trust me on this one, you don't want to say that kind of stuff again. If anyone asks…here, let's go over this. All of these—," Kisuke motioned at a section of the food and began explaining each little by little. It took almost an hour but by the end of it Akon could name most of the common dishes served in squad two. It took a full week before he could really master chopsticks, though.


End file.
